


I Have Loved You (All Along)

by STARSdidathing



Series: The "You Belong With Me" Series [3]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Drabble, Friendship, Good Loki, Light Angst, Loki Angst, Loki Feels, Loki Needs a Hug, Love Confessions, M/M, Post-Avengers (2012), Post-Thor: The Dark World, Unrequited Love, Wordcount: 100-1.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:30:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/STARSdidathing/pseuds/STARSdidathing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>“Um.” It was all Tony could get out, staring at Loki with wide eyes, the wrench he’d been holding hanging limp at his side as he stared at the demi-god with utter incredulity.</i><br/> </p><p>Love was always a gamble and nothing was riskier than letting out the initial confession.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Have Loved You (All Along)

**Author's Note:**

> I was not meant to write this. I was talking to my friend and discussing love confessions (she had just read the end of another of my stories) and I just started rambling which turned into me typing up this while talking to her. So she's partly to blame for this :P
> 
> This all started with me going:
> 
>  
> 
> _Can you imagine that? An MCU Loki who's friends with Tony and confessing to him now that he's single and Tony just being like..._

“Um.”

It was all Tony could get out, staring at Loki with wide eyes, the wrench he’d been holding hanging limp at his side as he stared at the demi-god with utter incredulity.

Loki watched his lack of reaction for a good minute before he smiled sadly and dismissed his words as if they’d never been, absolving Tony from responding any further. "I knew you didn't, Anthony. You're obvious in your affections and you _do_ care for me just..." he sighed and briefly avoided Tony’s gaze, "not the same way."

Tony finally got his mouth working. "Then why did you tell me?"

"Why?" Loki asked quietly, "Yes, that is a good question." He looked away again, "I suppose being among you heroes has made me far more hopeful than I should ever have let myself be."

"Loki-" Tony took a step but Loki waved him off and the engineer found himself stopping.

"A little heartbreak is not about to change my allegiance."

"It has in the past," Tony argued before wincing harshly. "Sorry, that was-"

"Accurate?" Loki questioned; a faintly amused smirk to his lips.

"Uncalled for."

Loki wiped it under the rug with another gesture. "What's done is done, I can't change that, but I'm not about to retract what I said or make an enemy of you again."

Tony ran a hand across his face. "You can't just tell me this and-"

"What?" Loki asked and there was a sudden bite to it. "I'm allowed to speak my mind. Your reaction to it is yours to make but you _can't_ tell me I shouldn't have confessed it."

"Well what am I supposed to do about it!" Tony demanded, waving his arm, needing to get rid of the nervous energy building under his skin. "What am I supposed to do in response to," he gestured at Loki, " _that_."

" _Nothing_ ," Loki hissed stalking closer until they were inches apart. Tony couldn't stop the way his eyes darted to Loki's lips then eyes, then the shortened distance between them. He finally drew his gaze back to the other whose face had shifted into a wince. "Nothing," he said again, but softly, he even took a halting step backwards. "Consider it a card on your table. Should you wish to play it?" Loki shrugged. "I will be available."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I will always be your friend," Loki smirked, looking a little self-deprecating, "I have far too few of them to spurn."

"And you'd be okay with that?" Tony pressed. “Just friendship?”

Loki tilted his head. "Our personalities are far too similar, Anthony. We both know we would rather take a little of something than have nothing at all."

Tony hated to acknowledge it, hated to turn it back on himself but God it was fucking _true_. He had loved Pepper so much despite their breakup being for the best. He had chosen her as a friend even if he'd still wanted her as a lover. It had been almost two years and while he wasn't in love with her anymore, it didn't change what he had felt at the time. What he still knew he would do and take and suffer with if it meant even the smallest piece of happiness. Yes, he knew what Loki was doing all too well.

"It won't be enough," Tony told him.

Loki didn’t look concerned, but it could be that he just didn’t let Tony _see_ what he was feeling. "It has been for sometime already and it will continue to be in the future."

Tony didn't buy that for a _second_ but he also knew pushing wouldn't make Loki feel any better. What was pointing out the obvious going to do? It would just hurt him more; further prove that the person he loved didn't return the sentiment. Tony hissed out a frustrated breath, almost wishing Loki had never declared himself in the first place. How the fuck was he meant to ignore _this_ elephant in the room?

"Would you prefer me to leave?" Loki asked, his voice was quieter than before and while it was hiding a lot of things, it didn't mask his sadness.

"No," Tony answered instantly, shaking his head. "No, I don't want you to go."

Loki's smile was a shadow of itself, but it was still honest in its relief. "Very well." He took the steps needed to reach the table in the lab that he'd taken as his own. "Have you made any progress with your new wings for the Falcon?"

It was a very shaky olive branch, but Tony quickly took it. He didn't know how they were going to go back to the easy relationship they'd had before - hell, he knew they couldn't ignore what had just happened forever, but for now? While it was still raw? Tony could happily wade with Loki up the river of _denying it ever fucking occurred_.

Fuck, and here he'd thought being single would make his life _less_ complicated.


End file.
